Chapter 3: Builders and water softeners · Part 4: Chelating agents
GLDA
- Contaminant risk
The worst fact: it's marketed as bio-based, but in the maker's Dissolvine GL Premium only 56% of the carbon is renewable. That part comes from MSG (monosodium glutamate). The rest is built from formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
Why brands use it: it replaces NTA, EDTA, phosphates and phosphonates, and breaks down readily.
Take care if: you get it in your eyes. About a third of company reports class it as an eye irritant.
Comes from: according to the maker's patent, glutamic acid (MSG) reacted with formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide. Australia classes formaldehyde as "May cause cancer". That doesn't mean it's in the product, but it's not a great starting point for something you clean with.
The EU's food-safety regulator lists leftover formaldehyde and cyanide among the residues checked for in GLDA. No chemistry reference outside the maker's patent states the route, so this book gives no 🛢 badge.
Myth check: "GLDA is plant-based": only partly, as above.
Contaminants: NTA, held under the same EU Ecolabel limits as MGDA. It's unlikely to matter in a well-made product, but it's a factor you can't see on the label.
Fair to say: it breaks down readily and most company reports don't classify it as hazardous. Reviewers list it among the most promising biodegradable chelators.
Correct as of November 2026. What the badges mean
Sources
- Safe Work Australia. Hazardous Chemical Information System (HCIS): classifications for each chemical, and for formaldehyde.
- BASF SE. US patents 5,849,950 and 8,802,894 (MGDA). Akzo Nobel / Nouryon. US patent 8,399,705 (GLDA). Nouryon, Dissolvine GL Premium launch (2023).
The full source list is at the end of Chapter 3.